First Choice buys rest of Co-op group

First Choice confirmed today it is buying the 75% of Co-op Holiday Hypermarkets it does not already own. First Choice is paying the West Midlands branch of the Co-operative Society and United Norwest Co-operative £37.6 million.

It is also clearing £9 million of debt off CHH's balance sheet. Holiday Hypermarkets runs supermarket-sized travel agencies of around 10,000 square feet.

Each store includes coffee shops, mini-cinemas featuring promotional videos and themed destination areas. They also have interactive areas, where customers can book holidays online.

In the year ended 25 September CHH made a pretax loss of £685,000 but the 24 stores have an average turnover of 15 times traditional stores'. Its net assets are worth £32.5 million.